Legal threat for family over abuse claim

A disability support group threatened a mother with legal action for defamation after she repeatedly complained her severely disabled 12-year-old daughter had been sexually assaulted by a carer.

Maree Welch, whose daughter Bobbie needs 24-hour care, told a royal commission on Wednesday her close association with the Gold Coast Family Support Group (FSG) soured after she reported the abuse in 1995.

FSG was founded in the 1970s by a group of families on the Gold Coast seeking services for their children with disability.

Ms Welch was deeply involved both as a worker and volunteer and her daughter used the services from 1983.

She said that in 1995 FSG arranged for casual carer John O'Connor to collect Bobbie from school because Ms Welch was required for a meeting.

Ms Welch described her wheelchair-bound daughter as a delightful young woman with a severe genetic disorder who still enjoyed life.

On the way home from O'Connor's house, Bobbie told her mother "John is a bad man" and also "said in a quiet voice 'he hurt my bum'".